Kristin Bjornsen: Suit not filed on behalf of Twin Lakes group

Boulder County has been breaking Colorado open-records and open-meeting laws, a Gunbarrel resident alleged in a lawsuit she filed this week.

Kristin Bjornsen charged in her Boulder District Court complaint that Boulder County commissioners have engaged in a "persistent pattern of conducting improper closed-door discussions of public business, violating the procedural requirements for conducting an executive session."

Bjornsen's lawsuit accuses the county commissioners of "holding unauthorized executive sessions and then retroactively authorizing them after the closed-door meetings have occurred."

Her lawsuit also contended the commissioners have "failed to identify the particular matter to be discussed in as much detail as possible" in advance of closed-to-the-public sessions, have failed to hold executive sessions during regular or special meetings and have failed to record the executive sessions.

As for Boulder County's compliance with the Colorado Open Records Act, Bjornsen's lawsuit contended the county staff illegally denied access to some documents she's sought through CORA requests — and redacted, or blacked out, parts of some of the copies of others that she did get.

The lawsuit specifically cites several documents Bjornsen said were withheld from her or were redacted improperly, as well as five instances in which she contended the commissioners violated the state's open-meetings law.

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75 records requests answered

Boulder County spokeswoman Barb Halpin said the county was served on Friday with the lawsuit Bjornsen filed on Tuesday.

"We haven't had time yet to review the details of the complaint, although our attorneys will be giving it a thorough review and respond within the 21 days granted by the courts," Halpin said. "Like any complaint of this nature, we want to ensure that it receives our full attention."

Halpin said, "Our elected officials and staff work hard every day to ensure that Boulder County adheres to all state laws and requirements surrounding open records and open meetings laws."

Halpin said Deputy County Attorney David Hughes reported that Boulder County has received 75 public records requests from Bjornsen in the past year and responded to all of them, providing Bjornsen with about 300 documents.

"We are proud of our record of openness and transparency in how we conduct business in Boulder County," Halpin said.

Bjornsen, who lives on the 4800 block of Brandon Creek Drive, is a board member of the Twin Lakes Action Group, an organization that has been fighting for more than a year against the proposal by Boulder County and the Boulder Valley School District's proposal to build a medium-density housing project on 20 acres of land along Gunbarrel's Twin Lakes Road.

Bjornsen said, though, that she was not filing her lawsuit on behalf of the Twin Lakes Action Group. She said she was doing it on her own, without paying an attorney to represent her, as a resident of the area who has encountered what she thinks are roadblocks to getting information about the housing proposal — and because of her belief "in transparent government, which I think is important no matter what."

Some material seen as exempt

Prior to filing her lawsuit, Bjornsen has had previous discussions with the county attorney's office about her concerns. She provided a copy of a Jan. 13 email she received from Assistant County Attorney Mark Doherty in which he defended the county's executive-session and open-records actions.

Doherty wrote Bjornsen that the Board of County Commissioners "follows the prescribed statutory process for holding executive sessions," a process he said "is reflected in the agendas, recordings and minutes of each of the board's meetings."

While Bjornsen and Doherty had discussed her concerns that some emails she'd sought in CORA requests were being withheld as non-public "work product," Doherty wrote that "our position remains that those draft emails are work product and are thus exempt from production. We have chosen not to waive that privilege."

Doherty wrote that Boulder County's commissioners strive to do everything they can "to allow citizens to participate in the legislative decision-making process to keep citizens fully informed on issues of public importance."

"If you have suggestions on how the board could improve this process — especially with respects to the Twin Lakes matter we would be happy to meet with you to discuss them," Doherty wrote Bjornsen.

Doherty wrote in January that if Bjornsen decided to move forward with a lawsuit about her open-records complaints, "we will respond appropriately to any court documents."

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